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Braves beat SY in fight to the finish

By Kevin Klein / Sports Writer / kklein@syvnews.com

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Lompoc goalkeeper Bricio Chavez punches the ball free from Santa Ynez’s Alex Uribe (14) with Lompoc’s Alejandro Jimenez (10), Drew Sapp (4) and Arturo Rios (5) backing him up in the Braves’ 2-1 victory.//Bryan Walton/Staff

Soccer is a contact sport.

Despite a lack of helmets and pads, soccer is a very physical game as displayed in Thursday’s Los Padres League match between the Santa Ynez (0-1, 3-9) and Lompoc (1-1) boys squads.

In a match that featured three yellow cards, two red cards, and a slew of hard tackles, it was the Lompoc Braves who pulled out a hard-fought 2-1 overtime victory at Santa Ynez Stadium.

“I think it’s good — two teams going hard for the ball,” Santa Ynez head coach Alex Uribe said of the game’s physicality. “It’s a contact sport so it has to be physical.

“There are going to be fouls, that’s the nature of the game.”

The Pirates played a man down after the 12th minute when defenseman Javier Buenrostro was flagged with a red card following a hard tackle. He was called for a yellow card just minutes earlier after pulling down Lompoc’s Ricky Serano on a clear breakaway.

Despite being a man-up, Lompoc failed to take advantage until late in the game.

“It was a great game, well played on both sides, but the refs made some bad calls, but it goes that way,” Lompoc coach Pepe Marquez said. “They’re a very aggressive team and I had to tell my guys to be aggressive and we ended up beating them in the middle.”

After 52 scoreless minutes, the Pirates got on the scoreboard first. Santa Ynez’s Miguel Angel made a perfect cross on a counter play and found a streaking Misa Diaz who broke free from the defense. Diaz controlled the ball into the box and fired past Lompoc goalie Bricio Chavez for the game’s first score.

Just one minute later, Lompoc’s Alejandro Jimenez retaliated with a shot from the top of the box, drawing the match even at one-all.

The Santa Ynez defense and goalkeeper Eric Garcia had their hands full the rest of the way, as the Braves offense outshot the Pirates 15-7,

including a 6-1 advantage in the two 10-minute overtime periods.

Six minutes into overtime, Lompoc’s Jesus Anguiano thought he had the sure-fire game winner when he booted a shot from the top of the penalty box.

It took a fully outstretched Garcia to deflect the shot.

At the 2-minute mark, Anguiano found redemption with the game winner.

Serano sent a Braves’ corner kick towards the goal and after a deflection and shot off goalkeeper Garcia’s hands, Anguiano found the ball. His shot weaved through the mass of bodies in the box and found the net, sending the Braves players into a celebratory frenzy.

With no “golden goal” rule in effect, the Braves were forced to survive a furious final 12 minutes of the Pirates attack until the final whistle, giving them the 2-1 win.

“My hat’s off to Lompoc,” Uribe said, “They did very well and they’re a well-conditioned team and I thought we matched up well with them. That early redcard left us with 10 (players), but our defense played spectacular and our keeper had some excellent saves.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time and Lompoc really deserved this one.”

Garcia had an exceptional game between the posts with 10 saves for the Pirates.

The Braves had only two substitutes on their bench after losing players during a hard fought 3-2 loss to Cabrillo on Tuesday.

“We got beat up in the Cabrillo game and some of these guys are playing hurt, but I’m very happy with how we played,” Marquez said after the win.

The Braves continue LPL play Tuesday when they host St. Joseph in Lompoc, while the Pirates will travel to face the their mascot counterparts Monday when the play the Pirates of Morro Bay.

January 12, 2010